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Medical-pot dispenser: 58,000 potential clients in Lowell area

By Hiroko Sato, hsato@lowellsun.com

Updated:
02/17/2014 06:35:34 AM EST

LOWELL -- In Nicholas Vita's view, the if-you-build-it-they-will-come mentality never works for medical-marijuana dispensaries.

With no rosters of qualified medical-marijuana patients existing in Massachusetts, Patriot Care Corp., which plans to open a dispensary in Lowell, will only slowly establish their client base, said Vita, the nonprofit organization's treasurer and director, who has experience helping to open the first medical-marijuana dispensary in Washington, D.C., from the ground up last summer.

With a $1.29 million capital budget, Patriot Care plans to build a 45,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art cultivation facility in Hadley, and renovate a 6,000-square-foot space in Lowell's Industrial Avenue neighborhood for retail to provide at least six different strains of medical marijuana.

Once the dispensary is open, the organization will publicize through radio advertisements, said Dennis Kunian, consultant for Patriot Care.

It also plans to make presentations to Lowell General Hospital in an effort to cultivate relationships with doctors and other medical professionals.

Then, those who manage Patriot Care hope to gradually reach out to an estimated 58,000 potential medical-marijuana patients in Lowell and surrounding areas.

"Any patient education would begin with outreach to the community, working closely with local officials and law enforcement, especially working closely with medical providers, such as doctors and clinicians, making sure whatever we do will be supportive of their mission to caring for these patients," Vita said.

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Two weeks after the state Department of Public Health qualified Patriot Care Corp. for one of the state's first 20 medical-marijuana dispensary licenses, the organization is taking steps toward the opening at 70 Industrial Ave.

Patriot Care is the only dispensary allowed in Lowell thus far and among three in Middlesex, with the other two in Cambridge and Newton.

Patriot Care CEO Robert Mayerson, a Harvard resident and former Eastern Mountain Sports president, has expertise in finance management, and serves as president and a board member of Columbia Care LLC, developing business strategies for the operation of medical-marijuana dispensaries in various states.

Patriot's other two executives -- Vita and Michael Abbott -- bring their experience in managing several medical-marijuana dispensaries in Washington, D.C., and Arizona.

Vita, who has worked for Goldman Sachs & Co., and co-founded Apelles Investment Management LLC., and Abbott, a former British police long-range rifle champion who co-founded Elysium Capital, serve as executives and board members for three of those dispensaries.

The two raised more than $2.2 million in capital to finance the construction and build-out of Capital City Care and Capital City Cultivation in Washington, D.C., according to Patriot Care's application filed with the Massachusetts DPH.

They oversee a team of 10 employees and helped grow revenue from zero to more than $1,000 per day.

The pair also manages Salubrious Wellness Clinic, a dispensary in Tempe, Ariz., and 203 Organix, a dispensary in Prescott, Ariz. All of those dispensaries opened in 2013.

Vita said the Lowell dispensary will be most similar to Capital City Care in that the Washington dispensary had to build its patient base from scratch, while Arizona had a list of 38,000 patients who would qualify for medical marijuana when the dispensary opened.

Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., both have "limited qualifying conditions" for patients, Vita said. Qualifying patients suffer from debilitating illnesses, such as cancer, AIDS, auto-immune diseases and depression, according to Patriot Care.

Patriot Care anticipates serving 362 patients in the first year, who will purchase, on average, an ounce a month. That would mean a total sale of 340 pounds of medical marijuana for the first full year, resulting in $2.28 million in revenue, according to Patriot Care.

From their experience, the executives wrote in the license application that having knowledgeable, dedicated professionals on staff and selecting convenient location are keys to success in dispensary business.

The organization plans to spend nearly $1.69 million of its $2.4 million first-year budget to hire "the best possible staff" for the Lowell and Hadley facilities.

Patriot Care plans to carry various products for varying needs. Patients needing speedy relief from pain could light up pre-rolls that come in six different strains. Those who have a lung sensitivity that prevents them from smoking could buy medical marijuana-infused olive oil and butter for home cooking.

There will also be at least four types of single-dose, single-use products, including chocolate-chip cookies, bite-sized brownies, popcorn and kettle corn, the organization's application says.

In addition, the dispensary will carry two types of infused capsules for oral ingestion -- one with Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and one without it.

Patriot Care expects to sit down with state officials in a couple of weeks for a review of the plans and timeline. The organization will then begin the process of obtaining a permit from the city of Lowell for the retail facility.

The managing team has already spoken with Eric Slagle, director of Development Services for Lowell, to determine what the organization needs to submit for the permitting process, Patriot Care said.

"We are a medical-marijuana business," Kunian said. "Our mission is to improve the quality of life for people who live in Middlesex County."

Mayerson added, "We cannot express the gratitude and excitement for being able to join the Lowell community. It's really an honor, and we hope to become an example for the rest of the Massachusetts in terms of compliance" with medical-marijuana dispensary regulations.

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